UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank issued the following statement on the announcement of the establishment of the Tommy G. Thompson Center for Public Leadership on campus.
We are delighted that UW-Madison has been chosen as the home for the Tommy G. Thompson Center for Public Leadership. We expect the center will make significant contributions to public policy and leadership in our state and nation.
Gov. Thompson is a distinguished alumnus who has been a constant supporter of the university. He has helped build our capacity in world-changing areas such as biotechnology. Now through this center, his legacy will help forge closer ties between our researchers and state policy-makers in ways that benefit the people of Wisconsin and beyond. We are grateful for the state’s investment in and support of this work.
The center, which has been in the works for two years, will embody three of the principles Gov. Thompson expressed during his long and distinguished career in public service:
- A belief in the value of objective, non-partisan professional research to inform public policy;
- A belief that public universities and in particular their faculty have a central role to play in public life;
- A belief in the Wisconsin Idea – that the university has a duty to ensure that discoveries and knowledge from campus are used to benefit the entire state and beyond.
Gov. Thompson is one of the great leaders in Wisconsin history and we are privileged to honor his legacy. Just as he did during his time as governor, the Tommy G. Thompson Center will be committed to bringing people together to develop policy reforms that improve public leadership and the practices of American government.
Media coverage:
UW-Madison leadership center will be named for former Gov. Tommy Thompson